Villages of Spain with Art and Mystery: El Frago, Zaragoza

Within the scope of that Aragonese region known as the Five Villas, which stands out for the beauty, antiquity, history and artistic richness of its villages, El Frago is a worthy and interesting place to visit and get to know.

Bordering with Huesca and the so-called pre-Pyrenees and located at an approximate distance of seventy kilometers from Zaragoza, it rises elegantly on a cone-shaped hill - type of place, especially chosen by the ancient Celtiberian cultures to build its castros - whose vera is glides, with melancholy parsimony in summer periods, the river Arba de Biel.

Crossed by a road, whose asphalt is supported by a bridge that could possibly have been medieval in its origins, the first detail of interest that is the traveler who accesses the place for the first time, is the small hermitage of the twelfth century, dedicated to the figure of St. Michael.

In it, it is worth mentioning the presence, on its main cover, of the so-called 'jaque crismón', a traditional element in most of the Romanesque churches of this part of the Peninsula, which sinks its roots in the old labaro, a cruciferous symbol that according to the tradition, he appeared to the emperor Constantine in a dream, along with the phrase 'in hoc signo vinces' (with this symbol you will win), obtaining victory in the famous battle of Puente Milvio, which was the prelude to the establishment of Christianity as official state religion.

Once the hermitage of San Miguel and the crossbow curve have been overcome - as the poet Antonio Machado would say, referring to the passage of the Duero River through the Soriana hermitage of San Saturio - which ascends to the town, the first sensation that rushes the traveler, is that has crossed the threshold of another world and has gone back in time, at least, several centuries.

The old town is still preserved in a really acceptable state, especially in regard to the old Jewish quarter, which had a special presence in this place, to the point that here, in El Frago, one of the most important museums of the Hebrew culture in Aragon: the Rabí Yom Tob Room.

Together with the old town, the most revealing monument and in fact, the one that brings us back into contact with a mysterious medieval stonecutter, who left his mark in numerous places in Huesca and Zaragoza and who in the absence of a known name, the researchers They refer to him as the Master of Agüero or San Juan de la Peña, it is the church, also Romanesque, from the 12th century, dedicated to the figure of San Nicolás de Bari.

In its main cover, apart from an interesting almanac that represents the uses and customs of the people during the twelve months of the year, we meet again with the presence - theme in which he specialized - of the attractive figures of the old musician and the dancer , metaphor of what possibly CG Jung would consider as a representation of the anima and the animus and in a closer psychological sense, it could be interpreted as that generational confrontation between the wisdom of old age and the passion of youth.

Other interesting details to take into account, is the presence on the tympanum of the main entrance, of the Epiphany or Adoration of the Kings, a topic in which this anonymous master stonemason also specialized and in which the figure can be observed as if it were section of the main scene, of San José.

There is, in addition, a crismón on the north cover, which attracts attention: subject to both sides by the figure of two angels, it is curious the detail that one of its upper wings are rubbed, in a scene that reminds a lot of the old Egyptian representations that alluded to the goddess Isis.

But speculation aside, El Frago is one of the most charming villages with the interest of being a beautiful area of ​​Aragon.

NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property.

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